Dolomite depression

It's Saturday. I'm at work.... always at work. Proteins never rest, they are like small children, it's late nights, no private life, always running them over columns, waiting to see what the result is on a gel, re-equilibrating another column. I'm always waiting.... waiting.... something might happen soon......I 'm currently trying to get over our trip to the Dolomites.

It's October. We're in Italy. Flew in to Brescia/Verona and Ian and Heidi picked us up. We drive to Bolzano. Top little town. I wish I spoke some German, but we struggled by on our Italian. Marmalade Crossiants and an excellent coffee for breakfast. Heaven.

Day 1: The food took a leap to the relms of
brillance.
Geeze I miss Italian food- the cheese, the meat, the fruit and the coffee..... We moved to Cortina fitting in an awesome alpine pass and a super short via ferrata. Found a good little hotel run by a friendly family. Cortina was shutting up shop for the break between the summer madness and the winter crazyness. Cortina is cute. Would have liked some time to go shopping.

I think Ian and Heidi had a great time on their first Via ferrata. I was very happy with the new Petzl gear we had bought before we left. The main hope of the group was that the weather would stay healthy. Iain and Ian were secretly planning an attack on a Grade 5C ferrata called Tomaselli, but that wouldn't come for several days. We ate out at a resturant and slept well with the plan of attacking a 3B the following day, called Strobel, which was a little mountain just out of Cortina.



Day 3: Via ferrata Strobel
Strobel was a nice day out. A rock scramble to the start there were quite a few other climbers out as well. The ferrata was like a mountain climb, with good examples of ladders. There is a picture of us all at the summit!












Day 4: Via ferrata Lipella
Lipella was a grade 4C. It involved a start through some old war tunnels in the mountains, and then was mainly a traverse along a long mountain, finally culminating in a climb to the summit at the end. Overall an excellent Via Ferrata, with very long sections. Awesome!!!!




























Day 5: Via ferrata Tomaseli
The big day- grade 5C! Technically we could feel it, but maybe a grading of 5B would have been better- it was pretty short but exhilarating!
We started at the little bivoac and the climb jumped straight in from the start. Fantastic views even though it was a bit misty.
The end of the day involved an 1.5 hr descent through some war tunnels from the top of the lift station. Lots of fun....













Day 6: Back to Bolzano.... shopping.... new crampons! Super light, super awesome.

Day 7: Back to the bench..... And guess what! I've got crystals, but not the right thing!
: (

Anyway, must get back to my protein. It needs me and the sooner I'm done the sooner I can go home and get the weekend chores done.

Hope everyone is well.....

K.